Aavasaksa Hill

Aavasaksa is one of Finland’s official national landscapes and one of the country’s first tourist destinations. It is located about 13 kilometres north of the municipal centre of Ylitornio.

Since the 17th century, travellers to Lapland have visited Aavasaksa to admire the midnight sun. At the beginning of the 19th century at the latest, the locals began to gather at the hill to celebrate Midsummer. By the end of the century, Aavasaksa’s reputation as a tourist destination was well established.

The measurement point was most likely at the observation tower built on the top of Aavasaksa, like the later measurement point for the Struve Geodetic Arc. In 2005, a monument to Maupertuis’ degree measuring was erected next to the observation tower.

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, who had arrived by ship before the rest of the party crossing the country, reached Tornio and travelled with the governor Gabriel Gyllengrip to Aavasaksa around the time of summer solstice.

At that stage, the expedition had not yet made the decision to build a chain of triangles on the hills. At Aavasaksa, Maupertuis already turned his attention to the chain of hills bordering the Torne.

In early July 1736, an expedition erected a marker on Aavasaksa, and the entire hill was cleared of trees. The expedition returned to the site at the end of the month. On this occasion, Governor Gyllengrip and his entourage also visited the expedition. A dining room with tables and benches was built from the trees and foliage, and all the remaining red wine was put on the table to celebrate.

Local residents often visited the site to watch the Frenchmen at work. They brought with them fish, sheep and “these miserable fruits that grow in these forests.” Presumably Maupertuis was talking about bilberries.

Maupertuis and Réginald Outhier returned to Aavasaksa in December. The reindeer ride to Aavasaksa was “short but awful”. The French were not used to the slippery sledges and repeatedly fell over in the snow. Maupertuis also injured his hand during the journey.

There are several buildings built for tourism in Aavasaksa. The ornate Keisarinmaja villa, built by the state, dates from 1882. The building was designed by architect Hugo Emil Saurén.

It was built for the ultimately unfulfilled visit of Russian Emperor Alexander III. Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917.

The pavilion was built in 1927 as a so-called tourist hut. It is Lapland’s oldest surviving building specifically made for tourist use. Next to Keisarinmaja is an Art Nouveau-style kiosk that was brought there from Apteekinpuisto in Tornio. It was built in 1912 and moved to Aavasaksa in 1959 to serve tourists.

The red brick observation tower was built in 1969. The first plans for the Aavasaksa observation tower had been drawn up 90 years earlier.

Sources:

Hautajärvi, Harri. “Aavasaksa ja öinen aurinko”. Kestävän matkailun monitieteiset mittarit kulttuuriympärstöissä. Eds. Soile Veijola and Kati Kyyrö. Valtioneuvoston selvitys- ja tutkimustoiminnan julkaisusarja 2020:26. Valtioneuvoston kanslia, Helsinki, 2020.

Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. “Maan muoto”. Maan muoto ynnä muita kirjoituksia Lapista. Ed. Osmo Pekonen. Väyläkirjat, 2019 (orig. 1738).

 Finnish Heritage Agency: https://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=2174

Outhier, Réginald. Matka Pohjan perille. Maupertuis Foundation and Väyläkirjat, 2011 (orig. 1744).


A map

Guidelines for using the map
  • Red = Measurement point of the triangulation chain.
  • Green = Walking route.
  • Blue = Arrival from the main road (highway 21).
  • Markers: Tap or click to get more information about the destinations.
  • Zoom out: Shows the location in the triangulation chain.
  • Drop icon: Locates the user’s location on the map.
  • Measure tool: Measure distances between locations.

Open the map in a new browser window.


On the old map

Aavasaksa Hill on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).

Want a map for yourself? The map is currently sold as a poster (225 mm x 707 mm) in museum shop in Torne Valleys museum (address: Tornionlaakson museo, Torikatu 4, Tornio).


Information

WGS84N 66°23’52.1″ E 23°43’31.1″
WGS84N 66.3978, E 23.7253
ETRS-TM35FINN 7368087, E 353746
UTM (WGS84)34W 621730.998 7366906.915
(Estimated location of the measurement point.)

242 m

Total about 1.6 km.

Aavasaksa is located about 12 kilometres north of the municipal centre of Ylitornio. From Highway 21, follow the Raanujärventie road for about 5 kilometres and then turn left onto the Aavasaksanvaarantie road.

There are several parking areas along Aavasaksanvaarantie road available for motorists.

A trail starts from the northwest corner of the first parking area on Aavasaksanvaarantie road. The most direct route to the Maupertuis monument and the measurement point is about 500 metres long. Keep right when the trail splits.

From the upper car park, head for the observation tower. The measurement point is at the observation tower and the monument is right next to it.

Northern end of the baselineabout 2 km
Southern end of the baseline in Niemisabout 13 km
Huitaperi17 km
Iso-Horila (Horilankero)14 km
Pullinki28 km
(Distance as the crow flies.)

The 8th of July 1736
From the 21st to 30th of July 1736
From the 18th to 21st of August 1736
The 27th of December 1736

The 21st of August 1736. “Madame Brunia sent us on the mountain a dish of hashed meat, and one of green peas; but they were so much sugared and seasoned with lemon-peel, according to the taste of the country, that we could not eat it.”

Réginald Outhier. Journal of a Voyage to the North (Journal d’un voyage au Nord), 1744.

The 21st of July 1736. “This Mountain is situated on the bank of the River 15 Leagues from Torneå. Its Ascent is difficult, lying through a Wood that reaches half way up, is then interrupted by a heap of steep flippery Rocks, and afterwards continued to the very top of the Mountain, at least before we cut down so much of it as was necessary to open our Prospect. The north-east side is a most frightful rocky Precipice, where the Falcons build their Nests. At the foot of it runs Tengliö, encircling Avasaxa before it falls into the River of Torneå.

From its Summit the Prospect is the most beautiful that can be imagined; to the South quite unbounded, and discovering the course of the River to a vast extent. Towards the East one can trace the Tengliö in its passage through several Lakes. And on the North, at a distance of 12 or 15 Leagues, the View is terminated by a prodigious Number of Hills, heaped one upon another, as we use to represent the Chaos, and amongst which it might not be easy, after one had got thither, to distinguish the one he had pitch’d upon at Avasaxa.”

Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis. The Figure of the Earth (La Figure de la Terre), 1738.

The monument was erected in 2005. It is designed by Hanna Koskinen.

The monument shows the longitude and latitude circles of the Earth, which are attached to a large stone shaped by nature.

Pictures from Aavasaksa

The pictures open in large size in the gallery by clicking on the picture.


The expedition on the map

Réginald Outhier has written a detailed description of the expedition’s journey from Paris to Tornio and back. The journey took two months each way and was made by boat and wagon. On the way back, the expedition was in a shipwreck in the Bay of Bothnia.


Measurement points and other destinations